Italian training ship Palinuro

History

Italy
Name	Palinuro
Owner	Italian Navy
Operator	Italian Navy
Builder	Anciens Chantiers Dubigeon, Nantes (France)
Laid down	1933
Launched	21 March 1934
Commissioned	1934
Recommissioned	16 July 1955
Renamed	Commandant Louis Richard (1934), Jean Marc Aline (1948), Palinuro (16 july 1951)
Homeport	La Maddalena
Identification	MMSI number: 247939000 Callsign: IGMX Italian Navy code: A5311
Motto	Faventibus Ventis
Status	Still in service
General characteristics
Type	Iron-hulled barquentine
Tonnage	858 GT
Displacement	1,341 t (1,320 long tons) full load
Length	- 69 m (226 ft 5 in) LOA - 59 m (194 ft) LPP
Beam	10 m (32 ft 10 in)
Height	37.50 m (123 ft 0 in) at mainmast
Draught	4.80 m (15 ft 9 in)
Sail plan	Barquentine rig, 15 sails, 1,000 m² (11,000 sq ft)
Speed	9.5 knots (17.6 km/h; 10.9 mph)
Endurance	- 1 x diesel engine Grandi Motori Trieste G.M.T. B230-6N, 447.5 kW (600.1 bhp) - 1 x shaft - 5,400 nmi (10,000 km; 6,200 mi) at 7.5 knots (13.9 km/h; 8.6 mph)
Crew	84 (of which, 6 officiers) plus 54 cadets/trainees
Notes	2 GEM Elettronica navigation radar: one MM/SPN-754(V)1 and one MM/SPN-754(V)2 as January 2019^[1]

Palinuro is a three-masted, iron-hulled barquentine, active as sail training vessel for the Italian Navy.

Palinuro is named after Palinurus the famous helmsman of Aeneas's ship (after the fall of Troy the defeated Trojans detoured the Mediterranean). Palinurus is seen as a prototype of an experienced navigator or guide.

History

Built at the shipyard Anciens Chantiers Dubigeon in Nantes by order of Joseph Briand (together with her sister ship Lieutenant René Guillon) and named Commandant Louis Richard, the ship was intended as barquentine. However the building costs of both ships ruined the original customer even before the ships were finished. The new owner Pècheries du Labrador from Saint-Malo finished the ships as schooner to be used for cod fishing.

In 1948 Commandant Louis Richard was bought by shipowner Bonin from Noirmoutier-en-Île, changed to a barquentine and renamed Jean Marc Aline to be used for fishing in the Southern Indian Ocean. Eventually this activity became unprofitable, thus the ship was set for sale.

In 1951 the Italian Navy was looking for a replacement for the Cristoforo Colombo (passed to the Soviet Union), bought the vessel and renamed her Palinuro. After a complete renovation the ship is used as training vessel for Senior Ratings.

Facts and figures

ITS Palinuro, during the training campaigns, has touched 164 different ports (many more than once), over the course of her history has traveled over 300,000 nautical miles, almost 15 times around the world.

ITS Palinuro has gone out 10 times from the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar), for five times she has passed the Strait of the Dardanelles (1991, 1993, 2007, 2016, 2018), while twice in her history has entered the Black Sea, crossing the Bosporus Strait (2016, 2018). Only once in its history has it crossed the Corinth Canal, on 22 August 2014.

The record for the longest time campaign is up to that of 1987, with a duration of 200 days, from 24 April to 10 November, for a total of 20 visited ports and 6925 miles traveled, but the largest number of miles traveled in only one The campaign was achieved in 2002, with 12748 miles in 192 days of campaign.

The longest navigation, is 290 hours (a bit more than 12 days) with about 1350 miles traveled from Batumi (Georgia) to Argostoli (Kefalonia - Greece), dates back to 2018; while the longest in terms of distance is 2001 with 1473 miles traveled in 10 days from Valencia to La Rochelle.

The longest continuous sailing navigation was 150 hours and 12 minutes, during the 54th training campaign of 2018 on the Taranto - Kos route, which also represented the record of sailing hours on a single leg.

The campaign with the most sailing hours was the 2018 campaign with over 600 hours.